PSU, FMCG scrips on the ascend

STOCKS REPORT

Public sector undertaking and fast moving consumer good (FMCG) scrips were in the limelight on Monday, with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closing above the 5,100 levels.

The BSE PSU index was the biggest gainer on Monday, up 1.91 per cent, followed by the BSE FMCG index, up 1.88 per cent. Healthy quarterly earnings reported so far helped the Sensex close at 5,118.17, up 0.88 per cent (44.83 points) over Friday's close. Worries over an erratic monsoon took a back seat on Monday, with activity focused on the mid-cap counters.

Blue chips had a lacklustre day, with 19 of the 30 scrips in the Sensex basket closing higher, losers outpaced gainers 9:8 on the BSE. A sluggish start due to the Global Trust Bank imbroglio was quickly shaken off as the Sensex, after opening weak at 5,046.99 and hitting a low of 5,034.26 hit an intra-day high of 5,126.45.

Players are focusing on important issues such as quarterly earnings and monsoons which has been the reason for the uncertainty in the market. While results have been good so far, monsoons are a concern, point out brokers.

Ambareesh Baliga, vice-president, Karvy Stock Broking, said," Markets look range bound in the near terms but operator activity, specially in mid-cap counters seems to be helping the market rise."

Short-covering in the derivatives market may be seen as July futures contract expires on Thursday, he added. Brokers said that PSU counters specially oil refiners rose after the Indian government on Monday gave state-run firms limited freedom to raise petrol and diesel prices.

Turnover was lower than Friday's, with the BSE reporting a turnover of Rs 1,927.93 crore in the cash segment and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Rs 4,344.72 crore.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 68.90 crore on Friday and domestic mutual funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 10.10 crore.

The BSE Bankex was the biggest loser on Monday, falling 0.19 per cent, followed by the BSE IT index, down 0.14 per cent. Global Trust Bank closed at Rs 10.54, at its lower circuit of 20 per cent, while Oriental Bank of Commerce was up 1.67 per cent to Rs 267.20, after the RBI said that OBC's takeover of Global Trust Bank would involve no share swap. Wipro was down 1.02 per cent to Rs 523.85 and Satyam Computer fell 0.33 per cent to Rs 328.05.

Heavyweight ITC was the biggest gainer on Monday, up 5.26 per cent to Rs 1,052.55, followed by the HPCL counter, up 3.10 per cent to Rs 309.30 and the Tata Steel scrip rose 2.73 per cent to Rs 373.90. Zee Telefilms was up 2.62 per cent to Rs 143.20 and Reliance Industries gained 2.45 per cent to Rs 477.60.

Tata Power was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, down 2.11 per cent to Rs 268.80, followed by the MTNL scrip, down 1.91 per cent to Rs 133.85. ICICI Bank fell 1.49 per cent to Rs 257.30 and Bharti Tele-Ventures was down 1.18 per cent to Rs 150.55.

The State Bank of India scrip gained 1.12 per cent to Rs 469.55.

ACC was up 1.95 per cent to Rs 239.90 and Gujarat Ambuja Cements gained 1.64 per cent to Rs 276.55.